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Court Bid to End Welsh Pipeline Vigil
Protesters have been living in trees near Brecon since January to try to stop a section of the 190-mile (320km) pipe being built through woodland. National Grid, which is bringing the action, hopes to move the group so the next phase of the £840m project can continue. Protesters have vowed to fight on and say they will get their own injunction. When complete, the pipeline will run from Milford Haven to Gloucestershire and eventually supply up to 20% of the UK's gas needs. The project has faced a number of setbacks, including several protests against the first phase of the pipeline at Trebanos in the Swansea Valley. Last month, five protesters who prevented work on the site in January for about five hours pleaded guilty to aggravated trespass. At the High Court on Thursday, National Grid hopes to get protesters moved on from the tree-camp near Sennybridge. But one protester, Sam, said they would not give up the fight to stop construction through the woodland, and they were hoping to get an injunction. "I feel it's (the pipeline's) going to make a permanent scar over this area," he said. "You just drive down the road you look at what the pipe's already done. Look at the construction there, it's like a massive trail of destruction." "If we lose the court case, we're going to remain here, we're going to fight." Brecon Beacons National Park Authority has in the past expressed concerns about the effect on the environment, and said it did not believe it was the right route for the pipeline. But after months of consultation, National Grid said it had found the "most suitable route" and the land would be re-instated afterwards. Announcing consent for phase two of the project in February, energy minister Lord Truscott said the potential impact of the pipeline on the beacons had been "uppermost" in his mind. But he said "stringent conditions" on National Grid would enable them to deliver the project "on time but with the least possible environmental impact". (Source: BBC News) |
An attempt to end a four-month protest against a gas pipeline across Wales is going to the High Court in Cardiff. 